Letter: Turning away child refugees unconscionable

Fifty-seven thousand unaccompanied children ages 2-17 have been apprehended and held inside the U.S.-Mexican border. From Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, they are fleeing poverty and extreme gang violence, including murder and rape. Many died on the way to refuge in the U.S.

People across the world, including the Pope, have pled for the U.S. to accept these children on humanitarian grounds.

The Pope said, "This humanitarian emergency requires, as a first urgent measure, that these children be welcomed and protected."

Noted filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas, who came to the U.S. as an undocumented child himself, had this to say after talking with many of the refugee kids:

"These children are not illegal: they are human beings. And they are not a national security threat. The only threat that these children pose to us is the threat of testing our own consciences."

But the U.S. Congress disagrees. For the past two months, they (mostly Republicans, but also some Democrats) have tried to change existing laws or add new amendments that would allow deportation of these children without court hearings. Ignored in the long debate is what would happen to these innocent kids if they were deported.

In my 97 years I have seen many attacks on ethnic groups, but never, so far, arguments for the mass murder of innocent children.

I call upon my friends and others to open your hearts, and once again mobilize against injustice by letters, Facebook or personal contact.